The Second Book of Shemu'el, starting at chapter 13
{13:1} It happened after this, that Avshalom the son of David had a
beautiful sister, whose name was Tamar; and Amnon the son of David
loved her. {13:2} Amnon was so vexed that he fell sick because of his
sister Tamar; for she was a virgin; and it seemed hard to Amnon to do
anything to her. {13:3} But Amnon had a friend, whose name was
Yehonadav, the son of Shim`a, David's brother; and Yehonadav was a
very subtle man. {13:4} He said to him, Why, son of the king, are you
thus lean from day to day? Won't you tell me? Amnon said to him, I
love Tamar, my brother Avshalom's sister. {13:5} Yehonadav said to
him, Lay you down on your bed, and feign yourself sick: and when your
father comes to see you, tell him, Please let my sister Tamar come and
give me bread to eat, and dress the food in my sight, that I may see
it, and eat it from her hand. {13:6} So Amnon lay down, and feigned
himself sick: and when the king was come to see him, Amnon said to the
king, Please let her sister Tamar come, and make me a couple of cakes
in my sight, that I may eat from her hand. {13:7} Then David sent home
to Tamar, saying, Go now to your brother Amnon's house, and dress him
food. {13:8} So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house; and he was
laid down. She took dough, and kneaded it, and made cakes in his
sight, and did bake the cakes. {13:9} She took the pan, and poured
them out before him; but he refused to eat. Amnon said, Have out all
men from me. They went out every man from him. {13:10} Amnon said to
Tamar, Bring the food into the chamber, that I may eat from your hand.
Tamar took the cakes which she had made, and brought them into the
chamber to Amnon her brother. {13:11} When she had brought them near
to him to eat, he took hold of her, and said to her, Come, lie with
me, my sister. {13:12} She answered him, No, my brother, do not force
me; for no such thing ought to be done in Yisra'el. Don't you do this
folly. {13:13} I, where shall I carry my shame? and as for you, you
will be as one of the fools in Yisra'el. Now therefore, please speak
to the king; for he will not withhold me from you. {13:14} However he
would not listen to her voice; but being stronger than she, he forced
her, and lay with her. {13:15} Then Amnon hated her with exceeding
great hatred; for the hatred with which he hated her was greater than
the love with which he had loved her. Amnon said to her, Arise, be
gone. {13:16} She said to him, Not so, because this great wrong in
putting me forth is [worse] than the other that you did to me. But he
would not listen to her. {13:17} Then he called his servant who
ministered to him, and said, Put now this woman out from me, and bolt
the door after her. {13:18} She had a garment of various colors on
her; for with such robes were the king's daughters who were virgins
dressed. Then his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after
her. {13:19} Tamar put ashes on her head, and tore her garment of
various colors that was on her; and she laid her hand on her head, and
went her way, crying aloud as she went. {13:20} Avshalom her brother
said to her, Has Amnon your brother been with you? but now hold your
shalom, my sister: he is your brother; don't take this thing to heart.
So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Avshalom's house. {13:21}
But when king David heard of all these things, he was very angry.
{13:22} Avshalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad; for Avshalom
hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar. {13:23} It
happened after two full years, that Avshalom had sheep-shearers in
Ba`al-Hatzor, which is beside Efrayim: and Avshalom invited all the
king's sons. {13:24} Avshalom came to the king, and said, See now,
your servant has sheep-shearers; let the king, I pray you, and his
servants go with your servant. {13:25} The king said to Avshalom, No,
my son, let us not all go, lest we be burdensome to you. He pressed
him: however he would not go, but blessed him. {13:26} Then said
Avshalom, If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us. The king
said to him, Why should he go with you? {13:27} But Avshalom pressed
him, and he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him. {13:28}
Avshalom commanded his servants, saying, Mark you now, when Amnon's
heart is merry with wine; and when I tell you, Smite Amnon, then kill
him; don't be afraid; haven't I commanded you? be courageous, and be
valiant. {13:29} The servants of Avshalom did to Amnon as Avshalom had
commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and every man got him up on
his mule, and fled. {13:30} It happened, while they were in the way,
that the news came to David, saying, Avshalom has slain all the king's
sons, and there is not one of them left. {13:31} Then the king arose,
and tore his garments, and lay on the [1>]eretz[<1]; and all his
servants stood by with their clothes torn. {13:32} Yehonadav, the son
of Shim`a, David's brother, answered, Don't let my lord suppose that
they have killed all the young men the king's sons; for Amnon only is
dead; for by the appointment of Avshalom this has been determined from
the day that he forced his sister Tamar. {13:33} Now therefore don't
let my lord the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all
the king's sons are dead; for Amnon only is dead. {13:34} But Avshalom
fled. The young man who kept the watch lifted up his eyes, and looked,
and, behold, there came much people by the way of the hill-side behind
him. {13:35} Yehonadav said to the king, Behold, the king's sons are
come: as your servant said, so it is. {13:36} It happened, as soon as
he had made an end of speaking, that behold, the king's sons came, and
lifted up their voice, and wept: and the king also and all his
servants wept very sore. {13:37} But Avshalom fled, and went to Talmai
the son of `Ammihud, king of Geshur. [David] mourned for his son every
day. {13:38} So Avshalom fled, and went to Geshur, and was there three
years. {13:39} [the soul of] king David longed to go forth to
Avshalom: for he was comforted concerning Amnon, seeing he was dead.
{14:1} Now Yo'av the son of Tzeru'yah perceived that the king's
heart was toward Avshalom. {14:2} Yo'av sent to Tekoa, and fetched
there a wise woman, and said to her, please act like a mourner, and
put on mourning clothing, Please, and don't anoint yourself with oil,
but be as a woman who has a long time mourned for the dead: {14:3} and
go in to the king, and speak on this manner to him. So Yo'av put the
words in her mouth. {14:4} When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king,
she fell on her face to the ground, and did obeisance, and said, Help,
O king. {14:5} The king said to her, What ails you? She answered, Of a
truth I am a widow, and my husband is dead. {14:6} Your handmaid had
two sons, and they two strove together in the field, and there was
none to part them, but the one struck the other, and killed him.
{14:7} Behold, the whole family is risen against your handmaid, and
they say, Deliver him who struck his brother, that we may kill him for
the life of his brother whom he killed, and so destroy the heir also.
Thus will they quench my coal which is left, and will leave to my
husband neither name nor remainder on the surface of the
[1>]eretz[<1]. {14:8} The king said to the woman, Go to your house,
and I will give charge concerning you. {14:9} The woman of Tekoa said
to the king, My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my
father's house; and the king and his throne be guiltless. {14:10} The
king said, Whoever says anything to you, bring him to me, and he shall
not touch you any more. {14:11} Then said she, Please let the king
remember the LORD your God, that the avenger of blood destroy not any
more, lest they destroy my son. He said, As the LORD lives, there
shall not one hair of your son fall to the [2>]eretz[<2]. {14:12} Then
the woman said, Please let your handmaid speak a word to my lord the
king. He said, Say on. {14:13} The woman said, Why then have you
devised such a thing against the people of God? for in speaking this
word the king is as one who is guilty, in that the king does not bring
home again his banished one. {14:14} For we must needs die, and are as
water split on the ground, which can't be gathered up again; neither
does God take away life, but devises means, that he who is banished
not be an outcast from him. {14:15} Now therefore seeing that I have
come to speak this word to my lord the king, it is because the people
have made me afraid: and your handmaid said, I will now speak to the
king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant.
{14:16} For the king will hear, to deliver his servant out of the hand
of the man who would destroy me and my son together out of the
inheritance of God. {14:17} Then your handmaid said, Please let the
word of my lord the king be comfortable; for as an angel of God, so is
my lord the king to discern good and bad: and the LORD your God be
with you. {14:18} Then the king answered the woman, Please don't hide
anything from me that I shall ask you. The woman said, Let my lord the
king now speak. {14:19} The king said, Is the hand of Yo'av with you
in all this? The woman answered, As your soul lives, my lord the king,
none can turn to the right hand or to the left from anything that my
lord the king has spoken; for your servant Yo'av, he bade me, and he
put all these words in the mouth of your handmaid; {14:20} to change
the face of the matter has your servant Yo'av done this thing: and my
lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all
things that are in the [3>]eretz[<3]. {14:21} The king said to Yo'av,
Behold now, I have done this thing: go therefore, bring the young man
Avshalom back. {14:22} Yo'av fell to the ground on his face, and did
obeisance, and blessed the king: and Yo'av said, Today your servant
knows that I have found favor in your sight, my lord, king, in that
the king has performed the request of his servant. {14:23} So Yo'av
arose and went to Geshur, and brought Avshalom to Yerushalayim.
{14:24} The king said, Let him turn to his own house, but let him not
see my face. So Avshalom turned to his own house, and didn't see the
king's face. {14:25} Now in all Yisra'el there was none to be so much
praised as Avshalom for his beauty: from the sole of his foot even to
the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. {14:26} When he cut
the hair of his head (now it was at every year's end that he cut it;
because it was heavy on him, therefore he cut it); he weighed the hair
of his head at two hundred shekels, after the king's weight. {14:27}
To Avshalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name
was Tamar: she was a woman of a beautiful face. {14:28} Avshalom lived
two full years in Yerushalayim; and he didn't see the king's face.
{14:29} Then Avshalom sent for Yo'av, to send him to the king; but he
would not come to him: and he sent again a second time, but he would
not come. {14:30} Therefore he said to his servants, Behold, Yo'av's
field is near mine, and he has barley there; go and set it on fire.
Avshalom's servants set the field on fire. {14:31} Then Yo'av arose,
and came to Avshalom to his house, and said to him, Why have your
servants set my field on fire? {14:32} Avshalom answered Yo'av,
Behold, I sent to you, saying, Come here, that I may send you to the
king, to say, Why am I come from Geshur? it were better for me to be
there still. Now therefore let me see the king's face; and if there be
iniquity in me, let him kill me. {14:33} So Yo'av came to the king,
and told him; and when he had called for Avshalom, he came to the
king, and bowed himself on his face to the ground before the king: and
the king kissed Avshalom.
{15:1} It happened after this, that Avshalom prepared him a chariot
and horses, and fifty men to run before him. {15:2} Avshalom rose up
early, and stood beside the way of the gate: and it was so, that when
any man had a suit which should come to the king for judgment, then
Avshalom called to him, and said, Of what city are you? He said, Your
servant is of one of the tribes of Yisra'el. {15:3} Avshalom said to
him, Behold, your matters are good and right; but there is no man
deputized of the king to hear you. {15:4} Avshalom said moreover, Oh
that I were made judge in the land, that every man who has any suit or
cause might come to me, and I would do him justice! {15:5} It was so,
that when any man came near to do him obeisance, he put forth his
hand, and took hold of him, and kissed him. {15:6} In this manner
Avshalom did to all Yisra'el who came to the king for judgment: so
Avshalom stole the hearts of the men of Yisra'el. {15:7} It happened
at the end of forty years, that Avshalom said to the king, please let
me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to the LORD, in Hevron.
{15:8} For your servant vowed a vow while I abode at Geshur in Aram,
saying, If the LORD shall indeed bring me again to Yerushalayim, then
I will serve the LORD. {15:9} The king said to him, Go in shalom. So
he arose, and went to Hevron. {15:10} But Avshalom sent spies
throughout all the tribes of Yisra'el, saying, As soon as you hear the
sound of the [1>]shofar[<1], then you shall say, Avshalom is king in
Hevron. {15:11} With Avshalom went two hundred men out of
Yerushalayim, who were invited, and went in their simplicity; and they
didn't know anything. {15:12} Avshalom sent for Achitofel the Giloni,
David's counselor, from his city, even from Giloh, while he was
offering the sacrifices. The conspiracy was strong; for the people
increased continually with Avshalom. {15:13} There came a messenger to
David, saying, The hearts of the men of Yisra'el are after Avshalom.
{15:14} David said to all his servants who were with him at
Yerushalayim, Arise, and let us flee; for else none of us shall escape
from Avshalom: make speed to depart, lest he overtake us quickly, and
bring down evil on us, and strike the city with the edge of the sword.
{15:15} The king's servants said to the king, Behold, your servants
are ready to do whatever my lord the king shall choose. {15:16} The
king went forth, and all his household after him. The king left ten
women, who were concubines, to keep the house. {15:17} The king went
forth, and all the people after him; and they stayed in Beit-Merhak.
{15:18} All his servants passed on beside him; and all the Kereti, and
all the Peleti, and all the Gitti, six hundred men who came after him
from Gat, passed on before the king. {15:19} Then said the king to
Ittai the Gittite, Why go you also with us? return, and abide with the
king: for you are a foreigner, and also an exile; [return] to your own
place. {15:20} Whereas you came but yesterday, should I this day make
you go up and down with us, seeing I go where I may? return you, and
take back your brothers; mercy and truth be with you. {15:21} Ittai
answered the king, and said, As the LORD lives, and as my lord the
king lives, surely in what place my lord the king shall be, whether
for death or for life, even there also will your servant be. {15:22}
David said to Ittai, Go and pass over. Ittai the Gittite passed over,
and all his men, and all the little ones who were with him. {15:23}
All the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed
over: the king also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the
people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness. {15:24} Behold,
Tzadok also [came], and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of
the covenant of God; and they set down the ark of God; and Avyatar
went up, until all the people had done passing out of the city.
{15:25} The king said to Tzadok, Carry back the ark of God into the
city: if I shall find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me
again, and show me both it, and his habitation: {15:26} but if he say
thus, I have no delight in you; behold, here am I, let him do to me as
seems good to him. {15:27} The king said also to Tzadok the
[2>]Kohen[<2], "Aren't you a seer? Return into the city in shalom, and
your two sons with you, Achima`atz your son, and Yonatan the son of
Avyatar. {15:28} Behold, I will stay at the fords of the wilderness,
until word comes from you to inform me." {15:29} Tzadok therefore and
Avyatar carried the ark of God again to Yerushalayim: and they abode
there. {15:30} David went up by the ascent of the [Mount of] Olives,
and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went
barefoot: and all the people who were with him covered every man his
head, and they went up, weeping as they went up. {15:31} One told
David, saying, Achitofel is among the conspirators with Avshalom.
David said, LORD, please turn the counsel of Achitofel into
foolishness. {15:32} It happened that when David had come to the top
[of the ascent], where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Arki came
to meet him with his coat torn, and dirt on his head. {15:33} David
said to him, If you pass on with me, then you will be a burden to me:
{15:34} but if you return to the city, and tell Avshalom, I will be
your servant, O king; as I have been your father's servant in time
past, so will I now be your servant; then will you defeat for me the
counsel of Achitofel. {15:35} Don't you have Tzadok and Avyatar the
[3>]Kohanim[<3] there with you? therefore it shall be, that whatever
thing you shall hear out of the king's house, you shall tell it to
Tzadok and Avyatar the [4>]Kohanim[<4]. {15:36} Behold, they have
there with them their two sons, Achima`atz, Tzadok's son, and Yonatan,
Avyatar's son; and by them you shall send to me everything that you
shall hear. {15:37} So Hushai, David's friend, came into the city; and
Avshalom came into Yerushalayim.
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Footnotes:
[1] {13:31} earth
[1] {14:7} earth
[2] {14:11} earth
[3] {14:20} earth
[1] {15:10} trumpet
[2] {15:27} priest
[3] {15:35} priests
[4] {15:35} priests
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